Game Thread - Washington Wizards at San Antonio Spurs

[montestewart]

What is it about some teams that, no matter who the personnel, they can just shoot 3's? Richard Jefferson is a career .357 shooter from 3. This year, he's shooting .455 with San Antonio.

Same thing goes for Phoenix. No matter who is there, they make everything.

Shooting the 3 well is because:
1- Summer training (some players only focus on one spot, like the corner 3 and they only shoot from there)
2- Ball movement, penetrations and WIDE OPEN shots.

Bad teams usually don't penetrate very well, don't move the ball, so all of their shots are contested and it's harder to score.

Suns and Spurs make average shooters good and good shooters great by doing exactly that, getting shooters space and looks. Following player movements off the ball, you can frequently foretell the Wizards' doom. On the other hand, without ball movement and penetration, the Wizards players often are force to heave a contested shot.

A good shooting coach can't hurt, but there are already many decent shooters in the league. How to improve their results? Good (smart, patient) personnel, good coaching, and a well implemented system will do wonders for the Wizards. Easy as 1-2-3. At least it seems so on the Spurs, Suns, Magic, etc.

[hands11]

Count on McGee racking up DNP-CDs after this. They won't even get maximum trade value for him or Blatche.

No suspension, but rather team fines and benchings for one game each seem like better moves. Blatche and Mike Lee had already done damage control. EG and others call for more scrutiny and punishment by issuing statements and public the suspensions. Sure, it happened and was bad but sometimes things need to stay in-house.

I think this is the most poorly managed team in the NBA.

Flip has consistently given his players opportunities to get out of his "doghouse". It's one of the things I like most about Flip: he always gives his players another chance. I'm not at all worried about how Flip will handle McGee and Blatche's minutes when they get back from the suspension. I suspect Flip will handle McGee exactly as he has handled him in the past. He'll get him 28 minutes a game, with more minutes when he plays well, and less minutes when he doesn't.

I'm curious to see how Flip handles Blatche from this point forward. As I've observed in the past, Flip has had little choice but to play Blatche all the minutes he can handle because there are no other offensively competent big men on the roster. But with Rashard Lewis on board (and hopefully up to speed with the playbook), Flip now has the flexibility to bench Blatche when he isn't giving 100%.

Totally agree, Lewis allowed Flip to be a better coach by adding this to his arsenal.

But I wouldn't start Lewis at the 4 unless they had already decided you want Dray gone. For this game is fine since they are suspended.

[hands11]

You know what I'm sick of? Sports fans with short fuses who are always looking for reasons to fire or trade everybody.

Then your going to have to block messages from at least 50% of the board dude.

We have some serious Donald Trumps on here.

[montestewart]

Hate losing, as usual, but for where I was hoping the team would be this year, tonight wasn't a bad loss, coming close a few times in the 2nd half, even on a Young off night. The team can't rely on Lewis in the post (no one really thought otherwise), but his shooting could really help Wall and Young, and it be great if Blatche could learn some discretion from him.

[Severn Hoos]

Another step closer to Jared Sullinger. I can see a low post game from here, it looks great!

[JWizmentality]

Another step closer to Jared Sullinger. I can see a low post game from here, it looks great!

I can see low post game from my house!

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Lewis had 21 pts/12 reb/2 ast/1 stl/1 blk, where was he all season for us?
I miss him. sigh.

[Bickerstaff]

You know what I'm sick of? Sports fans with short fuses who are always looking for reasons to fire or trade everybody.

Then your going to have to block messages from at least 50% of the board dude.

We have some serious Donald Trumps on here.

I think I have to block at least 80% of the internet. I

[montestewart]

You know what I'm sick of? Sports fans with short fuses who are always looking for reasons to fire or trade everybody.

Then your going to have to block messages from at least 50% of the board dude.

We have some serious Donald Trumps on here.

I think I have to block at least 80% of the internet. I

well, that takes care of the porn and offshore gambling sites

[dobrojim]

Nick needs to at least contest Manu there.

If that's the play I'm thinking of I like what Flip did there.
Called timeout and talked to Nick immediately and
from the body language, in a calm supportive way.
Nick came back with better intensity after that
from where I was sitting.

[LyricalRico]

Hate losing, as usual, but for where I was hoping the team would be this year, tonight wasn't a bad loss, coming close a few times in the 2nd half, even on a Young off night.

Exactly. I'd rather lose simply because the other team is better and not because major pieces of our rotation played like idiots. Last night, the Spurs were just a better team.

[dobrojim]

the one thing I didn't like about the game last night in addition
to losing (expected) was how we played Bonner. When the
other team has a guy like that, you don't cheat off him.
That's the main way the guy has success, by being left
alone. But we're not alone in the dept, most teams do
the same thing.